BlackBerry Ltd confirms three more executives are leaving the smartphone firm as shakeup continues

The cull of executives from BlackBerry Ltd.’s leadership team continued on Monday when it was revealed that three more high ranking employees would be leaving the struggling smartphone maker by the end of the year or shortly thereafter.

BlackBerry Ltd.’s creative director Alicia Keys may have been the first celebrity musician to endorse the now-struggling Canadian smartphone manufacturer – but she was hardly the only one interested in representing the once-iconic brand.

According to this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek cover story, BlackBerry management is said to have turned down an endorsement offer from none other than Justin Bieber, ironically dismissing the Canadian teen heartthrob as “a fad.”

The latest departures come less than a month after the Waterloo, Ont.-based company’s new interim CEO John Chen effectively cleared house, laying off numerous executives in the company’s upper ranks and eliminating some positions entirely in a bid to streamline management and shift the company’s focus back to its core enterprise customers.

Just three senior employees – including Mr. Chen – are listed on the BlackBerry website’s executive page.

“I can confirm that Rick Costanzo, EVP of Global Sales has resigned from BlackBerry and Chris Wormald, VP of Strategic Alliances, has also decided to leave,” confirmed BlackBerry corporate spokesperson Rebecca Freiburger, and first reported by the Wall Street Journal.

“We thank them both for their contributions and wish them well.”

A press release also revealed that a third executive, BlackBerry’s former director of global public policy Mark Cameron, would be leaving the company to join public relations and public affairs firm Hill+Knowlton Strategies Canada at the start of January.

BlackBerry shares rose more than 1.3% to $6.51 on the Toronto Stock Exchange by early-afternoon. New York-listed shares rose about 1.2% to US$6.16.

Mr. Wormald, who has been with the company since 2000, was responsible for BlackBerry’s mergers and acquisitions strategy. He will leave by the end of December. Mr. Costanzo, who has been with the company since 1999, will follow in early 2014.

Mr. Cameron dealt with public policy issues on an international level and helped co-ordinate strategies for sales to local governments worldwide over the past three years. He previously worked as director of policy and research for the Prime Minister’s Office.

In previous weeks the company has also eliminated its chief operating officer and chief marketing officer positions – two of the most consumer-orientated posts at the company – and replaced its chief financial officer.

The shakeup has been attributed to Mr. Chen, who himself ousted and replaced BlackBerry’s former CEO Thorsten Heins in early November after a prospective deal to take the company private failed.

BlackBerry’s latest line of smartphones, championed by Mr. Heins during his tenure, have failed to catch on with consumers in any meaningful way, sales figures from recent quarterly reports have shown.

Analysts widely expect third-quarter results due out Friday to disappoint as the company’s focus returns to restructuring and streamlining its sprawling, money-losing operations.